Asian Invasion

[A.M. Nornes]

Did anyone see the article in the Sunday New York Times? (Kehr, Dave. "In
Theaters Now: The Asian Alternative." NYT (14 January 2001): sec 2, 1, 30.

What did you think? The Asian Invasion they are talking about was mostly
Chinese (HUGE color picture of Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung on the from
page), with Korea thrown in here and there. Japan was carted in half-way
through to represent history: Mizoguchi, Ozu, Kurosawa.

Just out of curiosity, are there actually more Asian films being distributed
(or showing in NYC) today that, say, ten years ago. My suspicion is that
there aren't. If that's the case, what generates this? What brings Korea
forward? What moves Japan to the background? I do think something is
happening, but I don't think it has to do with distribution. Thoughts?

Markus